The Curse of the GateKeeper (James Potter #2) (60 page)

James squinted. He didn't have his glasses with him, so he couldn't quite make out the distant shapes in the darkness.

"Yeah," Ralph said, "I see it. Wow, that's a sight. Come on!"

As the four students trotted forward, the trees parted overhead, revealing the night sky and a scattering of stars. The moon shone its pale yellow light all round. Sure enough, the ancient wall and the open gates stood nearby; the two famous stone boars arched their backs at the sky, baring their tusks. James breathed a great sigh of relief. In a few moments, they would be safely within the grounds of Hogwarts again.

"Heh," Cameron laughed nervously. "See? I told you there would be a great adventure! Wait until my dad hears about—"

Cameron's voice cut off as a noise of running feet approached swiftly. The boy turned to look back, his face curious. Something large and dark loomed out of the darkness, flying low over the ground.

Rose screamed, lunging backwards and reaching for her wand. Ralph and James ducked as the figure hurtled over them. It landed on the path between James and the gate, skidding on the dirt and turning back to face them. A low, ferocious growl came from it and it began to advance.

"Stupefy!" Rose called, pointing her wand, but it was too dark to aim properly. The red bolt struck the ground in front of the creature, lighting it for an instant. James saw teeth bared along a narrow snout and bright, terrible eyes.

"It's a wolf!" he called, scrambling backwards. The wolf responded to his voice with a loud snarl. It lowered, coiling close to the ground, and then pounced. James covered his face, shielding himself from the teeth and claws, but instead of being mauled by the beast, he was knocked roughly aside by it. Then, directly behind him, there came the noise of a violent struggle and a scream of pain. It was Ralph. James scrambled to his feet, reaching for his wand. With a gasp, he realized he'd dropped it when the beast had attacked.

"Stun it, Rose!" James called.

"I can't!" Rose cried, pointing her wand wildly. "I can't tell them apart! If I Stun Ralph, it'll kill him!"

The wolf rolled with Ralph as he wrestled it. It seemed to have his wrist locked in its jaws. It shook its head violently, tearing at Ralph's arm. Ralph screamed again, trying to kick the enormous beast off of him.

Without thinking, James lunged at the creature. He threw his arms around the matted fur of its neck, pulling as hard as he could. Suddenly, intensely, James' phantom scar burned. He squinted against it, willing himself not to let go of the wolf's neck. The beast scrambled and thrashed, still not releasing its grip on Ralph's arm. James could feel the muscles pulsing beneath the wolf's fur, could smell the dank smell of its pelt. Suddenly, it got a paw on James' chest. It dug in its claws and swiped, tearing ragged strips in James' sweatshirt. He felt something hot and sticky immediately soak into his shirt, but there was no pain. Instead, the pain in his forehead throbbed and pulsed, distracting him. The wolf thrashed again, knocking James loose. He scrambled after it, but it was too fast. The paw swiped, barely missing James' face.

Suddenly, there was another voice calling out. "No, Ted! Stop! This isn't the way! Let him go!"

James rolled and got to his knees. He looked around wildly, squinting past the throb in his forehead, and saw a tall figure lunging onto the wolf. James was too stunned to immediately recognize who it was. The newcomer pulled at the wolf's ears, forcing it to release its grip on Ralph. The beast flailed its head back and forth, snapping.

"Stop this, Ted!" the newcomer cried, and James finally recognized it was Petra. "You don't know what you're doing! This isn't the way to fix things! Not here, not now!"

The wolf lunged mightily, hurling Petra off, but it didn't renew its attack on Ralph. The beast snarled at him, and then leapt away, snapping and slavering its bloody jaws. It seemed confused, almost as if it were at war with itself. Finally, it threw back its head and howled, long and loud. It chilled James' blood because he could sense the humanity in that howl, almost as if Ted's voice was buried under it, crying out in anguish and despair.

Petra climbed to her feet and slowly approached the great wolf. Remarkably, she knelt next to it and stroked its fur. She spoke to it quietly, soothingly.

"Ralph!" Rose rasped, dropping next to the big boy. "Are you all right? How badly are you hurt?"

Ralph moaned and rolled over, struggling to his knees. James scrambled over to him.

"I think my arm's broken," Ralph said with remarkable blandness. "It feels all loose and hot."

James could see the mangled mess of Ralph's wrist. Blood soaked through his shredded sleeve. "Ralph," James exclaimed, "you look awful!"

"You look pretty horrible, too," Ralph said. "Are all your guts still inside?"

"I think so, er, I hope," James replied, looking down at his bloody chest.

"Let me look at your wrist, Ralph," Petra suddenly said, kneeling next to him. Ralph held it up. Petra gingerly peeled back the torn fabric of Ralph's sleeve, revealing his forearm.

"Artemisae," she said, touching her wand to the cuts and punctures. "That'll stop the bleeding until we can get you to Madam Curio."

"What are you doing here, Petra?" James asked as she turned to examine his chest.

"I was walking back by myself," she answered. "I was just coming up the path when I saw what was happening."

Rose was trembling visibly. "But… how did you know that the wolf was… was…"

"It's a full moon, Rose. And Ted and I… we talked a lot. He told me about his… condition."

Petra performed the same technique on James' scratches, which, she assured him, looked a lot worse than they were. Finally, Rose and Petra helped James and Ralph to their feet.

"Where'd the wolf go?" Ralph asked, shaking. "Is it gone?"

Petra nodded, looking back toward the forest. "He's gone."

Rose gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "What about Cameron?" she said through her fingers.

A cursory search found Cameron lying on his face in the grass, the bag from the newsstand covering his head. He had a very large, muddy paw-print on his back but was otherwise completely unhurt.

"What happened?" he asked woozily as they dragged him upright. "I think I fainted. Did I really faint? I missed the whole thing!"

James sighed, finally feeling some pain in his chest as the wounds stiffened. "We'll tell you all about it later, Cam. Let's just get back to the castle."

Limping and bloody, the group of five made their way through the gate, heading toward the welcome glow of the castle windows. After a minute, James trotted back, holding one hand over his chest. He looked around for a few moments, cursing under his breath. Finally, he found his wand in a tuft of grass. He tucked it into his jeans pocket and ran back, yelling for the rest to wait up.

In the dark distance, somewhere between the gate and the village of Hogsmeade, a wolf howled a long, sorrowful note.

J
ust as Cameron had feared, Professor McGonagall was awaiting the returning students. She sat in a portable chair with a cup of tea and her tartan shawl, a long parchment across her lap. Petra climbed the portico steps first. McGonagall looked up as Petra came into the light.

"You're rather late, Miss Morganstern. Yours is the last name on my list. Perhaps you'd—" the professor's voice cut off as she saw the others climbing slowly up the steps. Her eyes widened, immediately taking in James' bloody shirt and Ralph's mangled wrist. She leapt up, spilling her tea.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Deedle, what in the world is the meaning…," she began, and then stopped herself. "Miss Morganstern, please collect Madam Curio from the Great Hall and ask her to meet us immediately in the hospital wing."

"It was a—" Ralph began, holding his wrist in front of him.

"Some sort of wild animal," Petra interrupted. "It came out of the woods while we were on our way back. It's all my fault, Professor. It probably smelled the half corned beef sandwich I was carrying home from Madam Puddifoot's. I should've known better."

"We'll determine who should've known what later, Miss Morganstern," McGonagall huffed, herding the troop toward the hospital wing. "For now, please hurry! Madam Curio!"

Madam Curio met them shortly after their arrival. She clucked her tongue as she gave James' chest a cursory look, and then turned to Ralph.

"Miss Morganstern, you did a very satisfactory job halting the bleeding on these boys," she proclaimed in a businesslike manner. "Would you be so kind as to assist me? By the time my nurses arrive, we'll probably be finished. Hand me that bottle of Arthroset and that box of Dermamend bandages, please. And perhaps you'd be so kind as to clean Mr. Potter's wounds?"

Petra scrubbed her hands and filled a basin. James hissed through his teeth as she began to gently sponge off his scratches.

"You mustn't tell anyone about Ted," Petra whispered as she worked. "The world isn't a very forgiving place for werewolves, even half-werewolves like Ted."

"I know," James answered quietly. "He told me about it last year. But he wasn't transforming then. He was just getting really restless and hungry around full moons."

Petra nodded. "He still doesn't transform very much. He's only got half the blood of a werewolf. If he'd been a full werewolf, I'd never have been able to talk him out of attacking Ralph. He only looks fully lycanthrope because he's also a Metamorphmagus, like his mother."

"You mean he purposely transforms himself to look like a wolf?"

Petra shook her head, but more out of confusion than denial. "It's very complicated. I don't think he really means to. Usually, he can control it, but when a full moon comes, part of Ted really
wants
to change into a wolf even though his father's blood isn't enough to force the physical change. Since he's his mother's son though, he can transform himself. And the more upset he is, the harder it is for him to keep it under control."

James sighed, and it hurt his chest. He was about to ask why Ted had only attacked Ralph, but he knew the answer already. Ted had made it very clear when James had talked to him earlier in the day. Ralph was a Dolohov, even if he hadn't formally taken the name, and it was a Dolohov who'd taken Ted's parents away from him. Quietly, James asked, "Do you think it was Ted that destroyed the tunnel entrance in the Shrieking Shack?"

Petra shrugged slightly. "It might have been. He… he had reasons to be upset today. I'm afraid I reminded him of his loss, although it wasn't what I meant to do. I just needed to talk to him."

James studied Petra's face, but he could tell that she wasn't going to say any more. Truthfully, James didn't want to talk about it any further. His forehead still throbbed worryingly, and what he wanted to do most of all was simply rest.

Madam Curio insisted that James and Ralph spend the night in the hospital wing, sleeping on the wonderfully charmed beds. Neither boy minded, since it meant breakfast in bed the next morning. It also postponed the inevitable meeting with the Headmaster, whereupon they would have to explain their unsanctioned misadventure. James' chest had been bandaged rather densely, but he could tell that the werewolf's slashes were already healing swiftly. They itched as the skin knitted together. Living in the wizarding world was a remarkable thing, he thought. Nevertheless, despite all their magic and potions, he reminded himself that Grandfather Weasley had still died of a stupid heart attack. James would have gladly dealt with weeks of slow, painful healing if the alchemists who'd invented Dermamend Skin-Knitting Bandages had spent their time instead working on a magical cure for heart attacks.

"What are we going to tell Merlin?" Ralph whispered to James the next morning as they ate their breakfasts in bed.

James shook his head nervously. "The truth, I suppose. Except for the part about Ted. Like Petra said, as far as anyone else is concerned, we were attacked by some wild animal. That's all."

Ralph shuddered. "I thought he was going to rip me to bits."

"It sure looked like he wanted to," James admitted. "Ralph, Ted wasn't in his right mind. He was all wolfed out, half because of his dad's werewolf blood and half because of his mum's Metamorphmagus blood. I mean, like Petra said, he was still Ted inside, but without any of Ted's self-restraint. He wasn't really trying to kill you. He was trying to avenge his parents. You're just the closest thing he has to somebody to blame."

"I know," Ralph answered sadly. "Really, I don't blame him. But still, does this mean I'm going to turn werewolf too?"

"No," James replied. "Ted isn't werewolf enough to fully transform without using his Metamorphmagus abilities. He definitely isn't werewolf enough to spawn any more werewolves. You got off lucky."

Ralph nodded thoughtfully. "Still, I think it'll be pretty awkward next time I see him. How do you get along with someone after they nearly ripped your arm off with their teeth?"

"Deal with that when the time comes, Ralph. We've got enough to manage at the moment."